Storage of masks and other epidemic-related supplies requisitioned by the government over the past year cost NT$117.65 million (US$4.23 million) through a special budget, which would not continue in the next fiscal year, a National Audit Office budget report showed.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC) had requisitioned disease-prevention supplies using funds made available through the Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例), which was passed on March 13 last year.
As of March 28 this year, the CECC amassed 415.95 million masks for public sale through real-name registration, and for medical and frontline workers, the report showed, adding that rationed masks are stored by Chunghwa Post.
Photo: CNA
The CDC amassed 175.51 million masks that it is storing in private warehouses, which costs NT$117.65 million per year in storage fees.
The government is paying the fees through the special budget, which would not be available in the coming fiscal year, the report showed.
Mask production capacity has reached 40 million masks per day, the report added.
The National Audit Office has requested that the government devise a policy to move masks out of private storage as soon as possible, the report said.
The report also outlined the government’s spending on COVID-19 vaccines purchased through COVAX, directly from international manufacturers and from domestic manufacturers.
The government had been in talks to produce international vaccines locally, but local suppliers could produce only one-third the supply required by vaccine companies to become a producer, the report showed.
Vaccine production in Taiwan has traditionally been low, with domestically produced flu vaccines accounting for only 20 to 30 percent of those used in the nation, it showed.
The report suggested that the government focus efforts on ramping up vaccine production and increasing the national vaccination rate.
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